Louisville's Jordan Nwora seeking balance of efficiency and aggressiveness
Louisville men’s basketball didn’t play its best offensively in the first half against Miami (Ohio), a game that ended in a 70-46 victory at the KFC Yum! Center Dec. 18. The Cardinals scored just 28 points and shot 39 percent from the field, finishing with eight turnovers before halftime.
Louisville’s leading scorer Jordan Nwora took some ill-advised shots in the first half, which resulted in head coach Chris Mack sending his All-American to the bench for the final four minutes. Nwora ended the night with 20 points on 7 of 17 shooting, scoring 15 points in the second half.
“He took a couple really poor ones. I’m going to keep saying the same thing over and over, that’s why we pulled him the last four minutes of the first half,” Mack said. “He took an absurd shot. It wasn’t just Jordan, the other guys were shooting quick and guys weren’t ready to offensive rebound.”
Mack talked to his team after the game about playing within the system and honoring the process of its offensive game plan. He wants Nwora to let the game come to him.
Nwora has scored 20 or more points eight times this season.
“He is one of the elite scorers in the country, he is being overplayed, he is being bumped and pushed,” Mack said. “That’s what happens when you get circled on the scouting report.”
Nwora’s next step becomes finding a balance between being offensively efficient and aggressive.
“If we run a play for him, which we have, that doesn’t mean he shoots that time, he did the one time and that’s why we pulled him out,” Mack said. “He knows that, he is a very coachable kid, he just gets too geeked up and has too much confidence at times.”
